REPORT OF THE SOCIETY 31 



OUR WINGED ALLIES 



Dr. W. T. MacClement, Queen's University. 



;Man has elected himself lord of creation, but quite f requentlj' he is reminded 

 that the vote was not unanimous. Several very considerable groups of animals 

 show by convincing actions that they have no respect for man's claim, and that 

 he must frequently demonstrate his power both to take and to keep what he 

 desires of earth's products. The other forms of life which, with ourselves, are 

 direct!}' or indirectly parasitic on the plant world, may be arranged in ascending 

 order in the form of a tree. The upper parts maj' or may not have arisen from 

 the lower portions, but at any rate the arrangement indicates a gradually but 

 not uniformh' increasing complexity of structure, and advance in intelligence. 

 But instinct, that mysterious half sister of intelligence, makes formidable the 

 lower groups, and whether we consider it the inherited memories of the race, 

 or specially implanted knowledge, it is an effectual substitute for both intell- 

 igence and education. 



At the base of our tree of classification are the Protozoa, the simplest of 

 animals, showing some 4,000 kinds of one celled creatures. Above them are the 

 colonial forms such as the Sponges, about 700 kinds. Xear and probably rel- 

 ated are the Flatworms, 1700 kinds, and the Coelenterates, 3,000 kinds, of 

 which several produce corals. Above these but showing some relationship in 

 their radiate symmetry are the Starfish and Sea Urchins 3,000 species, and the 

 Rotifers and Segmented Worms, 2000 species. Here we reach creatures having 

 bilateral symmetry, — the Alollusks, 25,000 sorts of them, and the Crustaceans, 

 about 6,000 kinds. On the same great branch above the Crustaceans are two 

 groups, the Spiders containing perhaps 4,000 species, and the other, the most 

 formidable order of animal life, the Insects, of which about 250,000 kinds are 

 known, and this is believed to be not more than one fourth of the species now 

 existing. Not alone in nvimber of kinds but in numbers of individuals of each 

 kind, is this the most threatening of contestants for the fruits of the earth. On 

 another stem of our tree of life are the back-boned creatures. Fishes 13,000 

 kinds, Amphibians 700 kinds. Reptiles 3,000 kinds. Birds 10,000 kinds, and 

 Mammals 3,500 kinds. 



Among the different classes named, man needs to recognize his friends and 

 his enemies. All will obey nature's prime law, and will struggle for an existence 

 and in doing so will destroy more or less of the available food in the world. Which 

 of these groups will be direct rivals of mankind, seeking the food which man 

 himself requires, and on which of them can man depend for aid against these 

 rivals, by attacking, killing and eating them ? Of all the invertebrate groups we 

 find onlv one which seems to threaten seriouslv man's rule and welfare. The 



